I wouldn't ordinarily do this ... ask for help, I mean, because I can't reciprocate and I'm a big advocate of the "one good turn deserves another" philosophy. But I'm not doing this for me, so I hope that makes it okay.
Before I moved back into town, I got in touch with a company I worked for years ago. I called because I tend to get attached to people, especially people I work with. Once you spend day after day with them, week after week for a few years, you tend to miss them when they're not around. This is why I made the phone call -- I always called. I had called once a year or so, since 1994 when I quit and opened my own business.
I went down the list of co-employees from the past, and most of them had moved on ... there were few familiar names still working there. I saved the best for last, and finally asked for Allen. A strange voice informed me that he was " ... on medical leave."
"Whad'ya mean, on medical leave?"
This was Allen we were talking about, Allen never got sick ... not sick enough to be "on medical leave."
";Can you hold on a minute?"
I waited, listening to silence, and finally a familiar voice picked up and the owner of the company explained to me that Allen had cancer and they didn't know when he'd be back. We made small talk for several minutes and then I hung up, and to be perfectly honest, Allen didn't leave my mind for the rest of the day.
It's hard to describe Allen, but most everyone knows someone like him; good as gold, would give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. Always had a smile on his face, and when he did get mad, he got mad like a gentleman, and "protested strongly."
One of my most vivid memories of Allen has to be the day of a bad storm. It rained straight down from dawn right up until 5 o'clock ... the streets were underwater, and for all intents and purposes I was stranded at work ... several of us were. This in itself was only significant because I had just gone back to work for the first time since becoming a mother; Jenny, my youngest, was 3 years old, Jake was 4, and Jillian was 7. They were at a day care less than 6 blocks from my work, but under the circumstances they might as well have been on another planet.
I lived for the end of the day, when I could be with my kids. Now here I was, stuck, with no idea how long it would take for the water to go down. I tried to be a trooper, even while the deluge continued with no apparent sign of letting up. By a quarter after five I had to find a secluded spot because I knew I was going to cry and there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it. I was just beside myself with longing to be with my kids, and like the sentimental dummy that I sometimes am, I was emotional, and hid out by the time clock, hoping not to be discovered. Then here came Allen.
"What's the matter with you?"
I explained, feeling like an idiot.
"I know I'm being stupid," I admitted.
"No, you're not!" he replied indignantly. "You're a mother, it's what you people do," he said, and smiled.
"It's not that I'm worried about them," I said, "it's that I can't get to them ... I've never not been able to get to them."
"Well, by golly," he said, "we can fix this. We'll get the company van and we'll go get 'em!"
"What?"
I laughed, now, through my tears. He was so serious, and I believed he meant just what he said. Somehow, that was enough for me. Somehow that made everything all right. Allen always knew what to say and what to do, even when he would swear up and down that he didn't, he always managed to fix things.
A few weeks ago Allen took a turn for the worse. He's been battling the cancer and hanging in, and now has congestive heart failure. That's why I'm asking for help. I don't go to church and I don't pray ... I just never learned how ... but I know there are those out there that do, and they work miracles. Send up a prayer if you would and work one of those miracles for Allen and his wife Tanya. Like I said, I can't reciprocate, but this is not for me, it's for Allen and Tanya, and I know you can do it. Like Allen would say ... "it's what you people do."
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